Food security in Public Health and other government programs in British Columbia, Canada: A policy analysis

Public Health has re-emerged as a driver of food security in British Columbia. Food security policy, programs and infrastructure have been integrated into the Public Health sector and other areas of government, including the adoption of food security as a Core Public Health program. This policy analysis of the integration merges findings from forty-eight key informant interviews conducted with government, Civil Society, and food supply representatives involved in the initiatives, along with relevant documents and participant/direct observations. Findings were analyzed according to “contextual”, “diagnostic”, “evaluative” and “strategic” categories from the Ritchie and Spencer framework for Applied Policy Research. While Civil Society was the driver for food security in British Columbia, Public Health was the driver for the integration of food security into the government. Public Health held most of the power, and often determined the agenda and the players involved. While many interviewees heralded the accomplishments of the incorporation of food security into Public Health, stakeholders also acknowledged the relative insignificance of the food security agenda in relation to other “weightier”, competing agendas. Conflict between stakeholders over approaches to food insecurity/hunger existed, and it was only weakly included in the agenda. Looking to consequences of the integration, food security increased in legitimacy within the Public Health sector over the research period. Interviewees described a clash of cultures between Public Health and Civil Society occurring partly as a result of Public Health’s limited food security mandate and inherent top down approach. Marginalization of the Civil Society voice at the provincial level was one of the negative consequences resulting from this integration. A social policy movement toward a new political paradigm - “regulatory pluralism” - calls for greater engagement of Civil Society, and for all sectors to work together toward common goals. This integration of food security into the government exemplifies an undertaking on the cutting edge in progress toward this shift. Recommendations for stakeholders in furthering food security within the government were identified. These include the development of food security policy alternatives for current government agendas in British Columbia, with a focus on health care funding, Aboriginal health and climate change

Expression of the CD6 T lymphocyte differentiation antigen in normal human brain

Antigens shared by the immune and central nervous systems (CNS) have been described repeatedly. The present study reports the expression of the CD6 lymphocyte differentiation antigen in normal human brain evidenced by immunohistochemistry and Northern blot analysis. A panel of various anti-CD6 monoclonal antibodies (mabs) tested on serial cryostat sections identified CD6-positive cells randomly scattered in parenchyma of all examined brain areas. Northern blot analysis with a highly sensitive cRNA probe revealed a 3.1 kb CD6-specific mRNA in various brain regions, especially in basalganglia and cortex cerebellum. Staining with mabs raised against different hematopoietic cell types, as well as hybridization with probes specific for the ß- and y-T cell receptor (TCR) chains support the notion that CD6 is expressed by original brain cells. The nature of the CD6-positive cell type and possible functions of shared antigens in immune and nervous systems are discusse

Food security in Public Health and other government programs in British Columbia, Canada : a policy analysis

Public Health has re-emerged as a driver of food security in British Columbia. Food security policy, programs and infrastructure have been integrated into the Public Health sector and other areas of government, including the adoption of food security as a Core Public Health program. This policy analysis of the integration merges findings from forty-eight key informant interviews conducted with government, Civil Society, and food supply representatives involved in the initiatives, along with relevant documents and participant/direct observations. Findings were analyzed according to “contextual”, “diagnostic”, “evaluative” and “strategic” categories from the Ritchie and Spencer framework for Applied Policy Research. While Civil Society was the driver for food security in British Columbia, Public Health was the driver for the integration of food security into the government. Public Health held most of the power, and often determined the agenda and the players involved. While many interviewees heralded the accomplishments of the incorporation of food security into Public Health, stakeholders also acknowledged the relative insignificance of the food security agenda in relation to other “weightier”, competing agendas. Conflict between stakeholders over approaches to food insecurity/hunger existed, and it was only weakly included in the agenda. Looking to consequences of the integration, food security increased in legitimacy within the Public Health sector over the research period. Interviewees described a clash of cultures between Public Health and Civil Society occurring partly as a result of Public Health’s limited food security mandate and inherent top down approach. Marginalization of the Civil Society voice at the provincial level was one of the negative consequences resulting from this integration. A social policy movement toward a new political paradigm - “regulatory pluralism” - calls for greater engagement of Civil Society, and for all sectors to work together toward common goals. This integration of food security into the government exemplifies an undertaking on the cutting edge in progress toward this shift. Recommendations for stakeholders in furthering food security within the government were identified. These include the development of food security policy alternatives for current government agendas in British Columbia, with a focus on health care funding, Aboriginal health and climate change.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

An Approach for Integrating and Analyzing Sustainability in Food-Based Dietary Guidelines

International organizations, governments, researchers, and activists have proposed the need for deeper integration of sustainability considerations in national food-based dietary guidelines (FBDGs). Yet, as recent scholarship advances the conversation, questions remain around how to effectively frame and address the interconnectedness of multiple sustainability domains. Little systematic analysis has evaluated how current FBDGs have integrated complex messages about socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable consumption practices with nutrition and health messages. This study had two nested objectives: (i) to examine the validity of an existing sustainable diets framework by assessing how sustainability concepts have been framed and included in national FBDGs available from 2011 to 2019 and (ii) to describe a novel analysis approach that augments an existing framework which integrates sustainability domains and can be adapted for use by future FBDGs. A qualitative content analysis was used to examine sustainability concepts found in 12 FBDGs and supporting documents available in English that were developed for use in 16 countries across Europe, North and South America, and Asia as of 2019-from a global review of those published prior to 2016 and gray literature review of publications between 2016 and 2019. Health domains were the primary frame found across the FBDGs examined, but documents also commonly incorporated agricultural, sociocultural, and economic sustainability principles. Analyzed documents were used to adapt an existing policy analysis framework into a "Sustainability in FBDGs Framework." This proposed framework contributes a novel analysis approach and has five core domains that are interconnected: health and nutrition, food security and agriculture, markets and value chains, sociocultural and political, and environment and ecosystems. This study adds to the growing body of literature related to sustainable food systems and dietary guidelines by presenting how sustainability framing in FBDGs can be used to further develop a comprehensive framework for integrating sustainability domains. While this project helps to validate previous work, further analyses of FBDGs which have emerged since this study and those not available in English are needed to improve the guidance approach described here and for assessing the incorporation of sustainability domains in future FBDGs. This work is useful in informing processes for policy developers to integrate sustainability considerations into their national FBDGs.Peer reviewe

Preliminary Report on the Seismological and Engineering Aspects of the January 17, 1994 Northridge Earthquake

This report on the seismological and engineering aspects of the 17 January, 1994, Northridge earthquake was printed on 24 January, 1994, one week after the main event. Its purpose is to provide a brief overview of preliminary observations related to the earthquake. The primary audience is seismologists, engineers and related professionals in the earthquake hazard and earthquake risk mitigation field. The report is preliminary in the sense that significant data collection and analysis remain to be completed. Reports containing more complete data and analysis may be issued at a later date. Immediately following the 17 January, 1994, Northridge earthquake, the Earthquake Engineering Research Center dispatched a reconnaissance team to the epicentral region. This report, issued one week after the earthquake, provides an overview of the seismological and engineering aspects of the earthquake and associated aftershocks. A slide set containing approximately 1 00 slides obtained during the reconnaissance, including all slides and photographs in this report, is being prepared. Copies of the set are available at cost. To obtain a set, write to EERC Reports, 1301 S. 46th Street, Richmond, California 94804, e-mail to [email protected], call510-231-9468, or fax 510-231-9461.National Science Foundation///Virginia, Estados UnidosUCR::Vicerrectoría de Docencia::Ingeniería::Facultad de Ingeniería::Escuela de Ingeniería Civi

SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity are associated with genetic variants affecting gene expression in a variety of tissues

Variability in SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity between individuals is partly due to genetic factors. Here, we identify 4 genomic loci with suggestive associations for SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and 19 for COVID-19 disease severity. Four of these 23 loci likely have an ethnicity-specific component. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) signals in 11 loci colocalize with expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) associated with the expression of 20 genes in 62 tissues/cell types (range: 1:43 tissues/gene), including lung, brain, heart, muscle, and skin as well as the digestive system and immune system. We perform genetic fine mapping to compute 99% credible SNP sets, which identify 10 GWAS loci that have eight or fewer SNPs in the credible set, including three loci with one single likely causal SNP. Our study suggests that the diverse symptoms and disease severity of COVID-19 observed between individuals is associated with variants across the genome, affecting gene expression levels in a wide variety of tissue types

Colliding Worlds: Asteroid research and the legitimization of war in space

Accepted versio

Cell-free DNA profiling of metastatic prostate cancer reveals microsatellite instability, structural rearrangements and clonal hematopoiesis.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.BACKGROUND: There are multiple existing and emerging therapeutic avenues for metastatic prostate cancer, with a common denominator, which is the need for predictive biomarkers. Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) has the potential to cost-efficiently accelerate precision medicine trials to improve clinical efficacy and diminish costs and toxicity. However, comprehensive ctDNA profiling in metastatic prostate cancer to date has been limited. METHODS: A combination of targeted and low-pass whole genome sequencing was performed on plasma cell-free DNA and matched white blood cell germline DNA in 364 blood samples from 217 metastatic prostate cancer patients. RESULTS: ctDNA was detected in 85.9% of baseline samples, correlated to line of therapy and was mirrored by circulating tumor cell enumeration of synchronous blood samples. Comprehensive profiling of the androgen receptor (AR) revealed a continuous increase in the fraction of patients with intra-AR structural variation, from 15.4% during first-line metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer therapy to 45.2% in fourth line, indicating a continuous evolution of AR during the course of the disease. Patients displayed frequent alterations in DNA repair deficiency genes (18.0%). Additionally, the microsatellite instability phenotype was identified in 3.81% of eligible samples (≥ 0.1 ctDNA fraction). Sequencing of non-repetitive intronic and exonic regions of PTEN, RB1, and TP53 detected biallelic inactivation in 47.5%, 20.3%, and 44.1% of samples with ≥ 0.2 ctDNA fraction, respectively. Only one patient carried a clonal high-impact variant without a detectable second hit. Intronic high-impact structural variation was twice as common as exonic mutations in PTEN and RB1. Finally, 14.6% of patients presented false positive variants due to clonal hematopoiesis, commonly ignored in commercially available assays. CONCLUSIONS: ctDNA profiles appear to mirror the genomic landscape of metastatic prostate cancer tissue and may cost-efficiently provide somatic information in clinical trials designed to identify predictive biomarkers. However, intronic sequencing of the interrogated tumor suppressors challenges the ubiquitous focus on coding regions and is vital, together with profiling of synchronous white blood cells, to minimize erroneous assignments which in turn may confound results and impede true associations in clinical trials.The Belgian Foundation Against Cancer (grant number C/2014/227); Kom op tegen Kanker (Stand up to Cancer), the Flemish Cancer Society (grant number 00000000116000000206); Royal College of Surgeons/Cancer Research UK (C19198/A1533); The Cancer Research Funds of Radiumhemmet, through the PCM program at KI (grant number 163012); The Erling-Persson family foundation (grant number 4-2689-2016); the Swedish Research Council (grant number K2010-70X-20430-04-3), and the Swedish Cancer Foundation (grant number 09-0677)

A first update on mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19

peer reviewe

A framework for integrating sustainability in international food-based dietary guidelines

This handbook presents a must-read, comprehensive and state of the art overview of sustainable diets, an issue critical to the environment and the health and well-being of society. Sustainable diets seek to minimise and mitigate the significant negative impact food production has on the environment. Simultaneously they aim to address worrying health trends in food consumption through the promotion of healthy diets that reduce premature disability, disease and death. Within the Routledge Handbook of Sustainable Diets, creative, compassionate, critical, and collaborative solutions are called for across nations, across disciplines and sectors. In order to address these wide-ranging issues the volume is split into sections dealing with environmental strategies, health and well-being, education and public engagement, social policies and food environments, transformations and food movements, economics and trade, design and measurement mechanisms and food sovereignty. Comprising of contributions from up and coming and established academics, the handbook provides a global, multi-disciplinary assessment of sustainable diets, drawing on case studies from regions across the world. The handbook concludes with a call to action, which provides readers with a comprehensive map of strategies that could dramatically increase sustainability and help to reverse global warming, diet related non-communicable diseases, and oppression and racism. This decisive collection is essential reading for students, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers concerned with promoting sustainable diets and thus establishing a sustainable food system to ensure access to healthy and nutritious food for all.Peer reviewe